Introduction

Published December 1, 2004

A Self-Sufficient Community Balanced with High Levels of Service
A Framework of Our Values
A Commitment to Communication

I. Introduction

The successful completion of the College’s Plan for 2003 and the introduction of the Plan for 2010, has caused LITS to review and revise its own Strategic Plan. The 1998 Plan offers an excellent framework, as many of the principles remain true for our next planning cycle.

The College Plan for 2010, like the Plan for 2003, has much in it that explicitly and implicitly demands the effective and pervasive use of information resources and technology. The need to meet those demands spurred LITS management to update its own strategic plan to identify the role that LITS will play in accomplishing the goals of the Plan for 2010. We have therefore looked into current trends in information technology and near-term possibilities to form the new LITS Strategic Plan, which puts forth our vision of the role of technology and information in realizing the College’s Plan for 2010.

Our plan addresses both short and long-range issues. It is not a substitute for the six-month work plans we have been publishing but provides a framework for those plans. The heart of the document is in the list of initiatives that make up the final section. It is important to realize that the list cuts across our entire organization; this is not a document about computing; it is about Library, Information, and Technology Services

"A Vision Worth Working For"

Steve Gilbert of American Association for Higher Education coined the expression "a vision worth working for" and for LITS it embodies our own belief that it is not enough to just do a lot of work, but that we need to do that work within a coherent intellectual framework. In its simplest form, LITS wants information technology to work for the institution in achieving its goals. More specifically, we believe that:

Students, as a matter of course, will graduate with the
information finding and assessment skills to allow them to learn for life and the technical skills to be successful in their first job or in graduate school. As a result students will find the information they need for study and research while at Mount Holyoke and throughout their lives.

Faculty will be able to find the information, technical support, tools and infrastructure they need to support their teaching, course administration and research. Further, LITS will partner with faculty in exploring and expanding ways in which technology and information can enhance the teaching and learning experience for our community.

College Administrative staff will have the resources they need to provide good curricular and administrative support for the College, including tools, training, and timely information about coming changes in the curriculum, the staff and the coming changes in the College’s administrative procedures. They will be able to perform administrative functions effectively and efficiently. They will have ready access from their computer desktops to a seamless suite of administrative tools to support their work.

LITS staff will have the resources they need to provide good curricular and administrative support for the College. They will assist faculty, staff, and students in making the most of information resources and technological solutions. They will actively seek to improve their services and processes through market analysis and community feedback.

Senior staff and institutional researchers will have easy access to data and analytic tools for decision-making.

A Self-Sufficient Community Balanced With High Levels of Service.

We believe the key to realizing this vision for Mount Holyoke is for community members be as self-sufficient as possible in supporting their information technology needs. We understand self-sufficiency will take various forms within our community and that LITS will need to respond to these varying needs in a flexible, timely way. We know that “a one size fits all” approach will not deliver the success we are committed to delivering, and that at times, customized support will be essential to the success of our users. Our goals are to both support and educate our community in the use of technology so that users grow in their technological savvy and independence while getting the assistance they need to meet their goals. We acknowledge that this model relies upon the timeframe and complexity of the technology needed and that it will require LITS to fully manage and support some segments of the community’s information technology needs. We see this approach as one of encouraging self-sufficiency balanced with the understanding that the need for information technology support and services rests firmly on the shoulders of LITS.

The self-sufficiency we strive for will result from:

• Choosing software that works well and easily.
• Involving the community in technology choices.
• Building sufficient robustness into our systems.
• Providing easy access to academic resources.
• Helping users understand the framework of information and technology services at Mount Holyoke.
• Developing local experts to provide departmental support.
  

This will take effort on the part of everyone, but it is the only way information and technology can be infused and sustained throughout the campus. Information technology cannot be seen as owned and controlled by LITS. It is an integral part of campus culture and daily work. The role of LITS is to lead and enable the growing uses of information technology throughout the campus. We also acknowledge that assuring this model is working for the users will require a continual assessment of the needs of the user community.

A Framework of Our Values

LITS embraces a code of values that helps to guide our choices and processes. It is reflected in all that we do and in the many ways that we contribute to the support and development of library resources and other information technology services.

• We look to the future to inform our daily work and choices.
• We work with the community, to evaluate and assess our roles as service providers and partners in education.
• We are committed to delivering the best and most effective services to our users.
• We encourage input and collaboration.
• We hold paramount the responsibility of completing our goals in a timely fashion.
• We will adopt standards to enhance our ability to deliver excellent service and maintain interoperability with other communities.
• We are open-minded and encourage community feedback and partnership
• We are committed to provide services that are user centered, environmentally informed, and sensitive to individual needs.
• We believe that LITS’ success is measured and reflected in the success of our users.
• We support intellectual freedom throughout the educational process.
• We embrace our roles as partners in education and the alignment of our priorities with those of the College.
• We require our processes and services to be nimble, flexible and responsive.
• We commit to the support and development of our staff.
• We ensure that the heart of LITS is a highly competent, motivated, and quality driven group of individuals that thrives on excellence, building services and relationships with each other and the Mount Holyoke community.

A Commitment to Communication

LITS recognizes that communication is one of the most important parts of our operation. LITS must listen to the needs of the College both at a detailed and strategic level. Together LITS and the communities it serves must work together to identify and deliver solutions that are in alignment with the priorities and strategic directions of the College. We must be vigilant in making information about existing and emerging services and systems easy to find and pervasive. In this document we are laying out our sense of where we need to go in developing our information organization. This will be a continually evolving document whose progression is very dependent upon systematic feedback from the community.